Pin setting machines have been known for many years and are used to set bowling pins in a ten-pin setup and depositing the pins at the back of a bowling lane before each turn of play by a bowler. During or after a turn of play, all of the pins are swept by some form of sweeping arm mechanism from the back of the lane, and the pins are transported, usually in an elevating manner, upwardly to an infeed station of the pin setter wherein the pins are arranged and again lowered back down onto the lane for the next turn of play.
The most common transporting mechanism for elevating the pins from the lane upwardly to the in-feed station of the pin setter has been a circular pinwheel structure which is generally channel-shaped with inner pin-receiving pockets. The pins are swept into a pit at the back of the lane whereupon the rotating pinwheel elevates the pins to the in-feed station of the pin setter.
Originally, such pinwheel structures were fabricated of steel in a spinning process by turning the wheel and forming the wheel with a tool. The pin-receiving pockets originally were formed by separate pieces either mechanically secured or welded to the interior of the wheel channel. Subsequently, a metal wheel was cast or otherwise formed with integral pockets and again processed by spinning to a circular configuration.
Such unitary pinwheel structures caused noise problems in bowling establishments because a pin striking the pinwheel created an undesirable "bell" type noise. This resulted in the design and manufacture of a two-ply pinwheel structure which, in essence, comprised inner and outer wheels which were mechanically joined together. The interface between the two halves or plies dampened the noise upon impact by the bowling pins.
Literally thousands and thousands of such pinwheel structures have been used all over the country and around the world, and a major problem arises when failures occur. The most common failure is a crack in the metal structure. This is caused because the pins are impacted against a back flange of the wheel defining the backside of the pin-receiving pockets. The advent of the two-ply wheel, which effectively dampened sound, magnified the failure problem simply because such pinwheels are not as strong as a thicker single-ply wheel.
Whenever a pinwheel failure occurs, a proprietor of a bowling establishment has one of two choices, either to repair the pinwheel structure, usually by welding, or to order a replacement pinwheel. Repairing the pinwheel causes down time and the obvious resulting loss in profits. Although a pinwheel is relatively easy to replace in assembly, replacing pinwheels also is a costly option, particularly in shipping expenses. Such a pinwheel usually is on the order of five feet in diameter, heavy and cumbersome to handle and, in fact, some parcel services do not even ship such large size items.
This invention is directed to a new and improved pinwheel structure having a modular design which not only is extremely "quiet" but solves the critical problems of repair and replacement. A failure at any point about the wheel simply is rectified by replacing a single section of the wheel. Replacement of an entire pinwheel is enhanced because the sections can be handled and shipped in a vastly more compact fashion than a full circular wheel.